Official results strengthened President Emmerson Mnangagwa's prospects of holding on to power in the key presidential vote, showing that ZANU-PF had easily won the most seats in the parliamentary ballot.

Mugabe grinned broadly in the posed photo, standing beside brigadier general Ambrose Mutinhiri, the leader of opposition party the National Patriotic Front (NPF), which hopes to unseat the government in polls expected by August.

Mugabe's reign was built on support from three pillars -- ZANU-PF party, the military and the war veterans -- and their hardening stance against him in recent years was a bellwether of his downfall on Tuesday.